[lord flynn]

for interest:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/11355289/Chicken-wars-which-supermarkets-are-selling-bargain-birds.html

[Marches Farmer]

Hmm, does "British" mean hatched and raised in Britain?  £2.11 for an oven ready bird, with the cost of hatching, feeding, bedding, slaughter, preparation, packaging, transporting to a central distribution centre and then to a store - surely a loss leader and if not, how on earth do they do it?

When I was growing up chicken was a luxury item - we sometimes had a chicken joint each rather than a whole bird.  The colour, texture and taste was very different, though, and made a memorable meal, not just a vehicle for curry sauce.

[Stereo]

I pity those farmers who have mortgaged their farms to put up poultry sheds. They will be the ones taking the brunt of this.

[Castle Farm]

Average payment to farmers who have poultry sheds are 4p per unit...Yes they call them units.

[lord flynn]

Its terrible isn't it-I refused to buy a chicken in Morrisons at xmas (bearing in mind Morrisons generally gives a better price to farmers than most others) because they were £2.50 each. I also refused to buy coop milk a while back as it was a bogof meaning it was something like 4pints for £1.

I am too wet when it comes to eating my own surplus birds, I really need to get over it-especially now I have ducks as well.

[FiB]

Its terrible isn't it-I refused to buy a chicken in Morrisons at xmas (bearing in mind Morrisons generally gives a better price to farmers than most others) because they were £2.50 each. I also refused to buy coop milk a while back as it was a bogof meaning it was something like 4pints for £1.

I am too wet when it comes to eating my own surplus birds, I really need to get over it-especially now I have ducks as well.

I am a bit wet like that too.... But this is the year! I have given up crap (welfare and deal for farmers) meat..... Which leaves only what I can raise plus meat from other known sources or labeled organic/ free range shop bought meat. Surprisingly limiting.

[Stereo]

We only buy meat from Eversfield Organic who are local to us. Also raise our own chicken. Occasionally we might buy ham as our boys love it but it has to be good stuff and I figure we'll get some pigs soon. Only buy Riverford or Yeo Valley organic milk. OMSCO seem to still pay organic dairies a decent price so if you want the farmer to get a decent return, that's one way.

I think most folk need to re-evaluate their priorities in life. They'll go to a pub and never ask the price of a pint but will try to save every penny on a pint of milk or a chicken. Which is more important? I would much rather buy a cheaper cut of meat or mince and have organic and grass fed that spend the same on a steak with rubber fat on it due to all the grain it was fed. Better not get into the amount of flukicides now getting into conventional milk. Good if your kids have worms I suppose.

[Clansman]

Hmm, does "British" mean hatched and raised in Britain?  £2.11 for an oven ready bird, with the cost of hatching, feeding, bedding, slaughter, preparation, packaging, transporting to a central distribution centre and then to a store - surely a loss leader and if not, how on earth do they do it?

It's either a loss leader as you say or they are coming from Thailand/Brazil or similar.

I wonder what the wording is on the packaging, "produced or packaged in Britain" doesn't mean it was raised here.

these birds in their short life will have eaten around 4Kg of feed each.

I know some of the large commercial broiler farms are currently paying £500 per tonne for feed so each bird is eating roughly £2 worth of feed.

Most of the largre companies like every stage of the process to make a small profit so the breeding farms, hatchery, rearing farms, feed mills, processing factory and last but not least the supermarket are all taking a cut out of this.

It will be as Castle Farm already said just a few pence per bird at each stage but it must be cutting very close to the bone at the prices mentioned in the article.

[lord flynn]

its down to expectations I think. I can't remember the exact percentages but we now spend something like 10% of our disposable income on food and it used to be 35% (or something in that region of difference). But now there's so much other stuff to buy and 'have to haves'. I try and buy our milk from local shops only and I can make a joint of meat/chicken stretch over several meals, make stock etc etc.


Trouble is I like the boys and find it hard to cull older ones (i.e. after 14 weeks) as they are so good looking-so I cull out the boys very early instead of feeding them. I might rethink that this year as am not selling any stock anyway and maybe get some broiler chicks in for roasters. There's not a lot on the breeds I keep-good thighs on the Scots Greys and the Minorca boys are a fair size as well I guess.


If the UK isn't careful, all our meat will be imported but the sad thing is, the majority won't care they're so far removed from the process. And I know people are hard up but it's also down to not feeling as though they have time to cook and shop around and not knowing how. So glad I was taught cooking in school (had to budget and cook 3 course meals for 4 at age 12, all from scratch)-most useful thing I took away!

[Stereo]

probably a bit of meat on at 14 weeks. For small breeds I generally kill and skin them. Take off the breast fillets and possibly the legs, takes a couple minutes per bird. Not much but good eating and at least get something back.

[lord flynn]

I usually cull them out at 6/7 weeks unless they look particularly promising although it depends on size of the hatch as well. The dog and cat can have the wings raw so thats a bonus. Both SGs and Marsh Daisies are very slow to mature so a lot of slow cooking I think!

[Fleecewife]

I share the difficulty with bumping off beautiful cockerels, but if they've got to go then I prefer to eat them rather than wasting them.  If I feel I like them too much, then once they're oven ready I put them in the freezer for a few months so I'm less likely to remember which one I'm eating 

This thing about really cheap chicken, especially sold as quarters or joints, has been on the go for a long time now, but getting ever more cut throat.  As someone else has said, most people if they don't just get a carry-out, just want something they can cook in 20 mins when they get home from work.  Something chewy with a bottle of bought sauce poured over it is about the extent of their cookery skills.  I honestly think that anything for the chewy part would do - perhaps the supermarkets should have a price war over TVP, or whatever soya blocks are called now, so they became the cheapest option.

I think it's a crying shame to see such cheap animals for sale on the supermarket shelves - a once living creature just a tasteless base for a sauce, after a horrible life fed who knows what to keep the price down, exported to Britain and sold off as cheaply as the supermarkets can get away with.
Growers here hopefully treat their birds rather better, although not necessarily so, but their rewards sadly now come from lowering their standards to reduce costs.

Makes you want to go vegetarian 

[MAK]

I agree that cheap food in the uk will result in yet more casualties (as we have seen with milk producers). Supermarkets are having a real price battle and producers will be squeezed further. The main problem as I see it is the cultural shift and expectations of plentiful cheap food regardless of its providence. Producers have already cut corners with meat in burgers and processed foods so who knows what will happens when supplies of the cheap chickens fall away. I can not imagine the uk public paying  more than £ 6-8 for a standard chicken so the race is on for a new cheap chewy product that a jar of sauce can be poured over.
Is it the supermarkets or customer to blame for cheap food and plight of producers?

[Stereo]

I think it's just a gradual disconnect with our food as less people work on the land. Meat, egg and milk production is moving indoors and big sheds, screened by trees are going up everywhere. They don't want you to see inside and most people would rather avoid the guilt and make it someone else's responsibility.

[Marches Farmer]

Checked out the £1.64 per kilo chicken at Waitrose in Malvern yesterday.  Specifically mentioned "British" farmers, maize rich diet (no percentage mentioned) and availability of natural daylight (? a couple of rooflights in the shed).  Chickens looked pale and rather moist compared to the "real thing" but no sign of hock burn.